
This is an introduction lecture for the Cisco Data Centers | ACI Core course that covers:
Who is the instructor?
Course Agenda.
Course Resources.
This lecture covers the following:
Today’s Data Center Challenges and Requirements.
The Data Center Fabric Evolution Journey.
ACI overview: What is ACI?
ACI overview: ACI benefits.
Cisco ACI Fabric Topology High-Level Overview.
ACI vs. Traditional Networking Policy Reuse Comparison
This lecture covers the following:
What is Cisco APIC?
APIC appliance generations.
APIC Port Connectivity
This lecture covers the Nexus 9000 switches overview:
Nexus 9500 Series.
Nexus 9300 Series.
Nexus 9000 Naming Convention.
This lecture covers the following:
From the Classical 3-tier topology to the 2-tier Leaf-Spine Design.
Spine-Leaf Topology Benefits.
APIC Connectivity to the Leaf switches.
FEX Connectivity in ACI.
ACI Fabric with Mixed Hardware.
ACI Fabric with Different Software Versions.
ACI Multi-tier Architecture.
This lecture covers an overview of the Data, control, and management plane protocols.
This lecture covers the fabric discovery sequence of events as follows:
LLDP exchange.
TEP assignment via DHCP.
IS-IS adjacency.
Certification Validation.
The DME process starts.
VXLAN Tunnels build up.
This lecture covers the required steps to set up the ACI Fabric.
In this lecture, I show how to bring up the ACI fabric in the LAB.
This lecture covers the following topics:
The ACI Object Model (Policy Model) concept.
The Management Information Tree (MIT).
ACI Policies Categorization.
ACI Object Types in the MIT.
ACI Tools to Query the MIT.
In this lecture, you will have a tour of the ACI Graphical User Interface (GUI).
In this lecture, I will show you how to get the class and the distinguished name for any logical object in ACI from the GUI.
In this lecture, I will show you how to get the class and the distinguished name for any logical object in ACI from the Object Store Browser (Visore).
This lecture covers the ACI CLI types in APICs (NX-OS Style & Bash CLIs) and in fabric switches (iBash, VSH & VSH_LC CLIs).
This lecture covers the following:
How to use ACI Moquery?
ACI Moquery using a Class
ACI Moquery using an Object
ACI Moquery Output Attributes
ACI Moquery Filters and Operators
Logical and Concrete ACI Managed Objects
Access Policies Moquery Commands
AEP, VLAN Pools & Domains
Profiles, Selectors & Policy Groups
Tenant Policies Moquery Commands
VRFs, BDs & Subnets
EPGs
L3Out
EndPoints (EPs)
VMM Moquery Commands
Monitoring & Troubleshooting Moquery Commands
Faults & Audit logs
Interfaces Counters & Status
This lecture covers the ACI APIC Clustering and Database distribution.
Understand why we need a minimum of three APICs in a cluster and why we may need more.
Learn what happens during APIC failures.
Expect the situation if all APICs go down.
Describe the ACI database distribution benefits.
Understand the ACI APIC Cluster Resizing.
Learn the standby APIC usage.
Learn some show commands.
This lecture introduces the ACI Access Policies at a high level.
This lecture covers the ACI Switch Profiles and Switch Selectors.
This lecture covers the ACI Switch Policies and Switch Policy Groups (SPGs).
This lecture covers the ACI Interface Profiles and Interface Selectors.
This lecture covers the ACI Interface Policies and Interface Policy Groups (IPGs).
This lecture covers the Port-Channel (PC) Interfaces in ACI and shows a step-by-step configuration in the LAB demo.
This lecture covers the following: Virtual Port-Channel (VPC) in ACI.
Virtual Port-channel (VPC) Review.
Virtual Port-Channel (VPC) in ACI.
VPC in ACI configuration steps.
VPC in ACI lab demo (Combined profiles vs. Individual profiles).
This lecture covers the VLAN Pools:
What is the VLAN pool, and how is it used?
VLAN pool types (static vs. dynamic).
Encapsulation block modes.
Encapsulation block roles.
LAB demo.
Moquery commands for VLAN pool usage.
This lecture covers the ACI domain types and usage.
This lecture covers the ACI AEP and its usage.
This lecture covers the FEX deployment in ACI.
This lecture introduces the ACI Tenant Policies at a high level.
This lecture covers the Tenant object in ACI.
This lecture covers the VRF object in ACI.
This lecture covers the Bridge Domain object in ACI.
This lecture covers the ACI Subnet object in ACI.
This lecture covers the Application profile object in ACI.
This lecture covers the Endpoint Group (EPG) object in ACI.
This lecture covers the methods used to attach Endpoints to Application EPGs.
This lecture covers the contract, subject, and filter objects in ACI.
This lecture covers the contract types and the steps needed to create a standard contract, a subject, and a filter.
In this lecture (Part 1), I will demonstrate the ACI as a Layer-2 fabric in the LAB and show how to deploy contracts between EPGs.
In this lecture (Part 2), I demonstrate the ACI as a Layer-3 fabric in the LAB and show how to deploy contracts between EPGs.
This lecture covers the ACI packet encapsulation process and the ACI packet format.
This lecture covers ACI Endpoint types, NIC teaming methods, and potential issues in the ACI fabric.
This lecture covers the ACI VLAN types (Encap vs. Platform-Independent) and the VLAN scope (Global vs. Port-local).
This lecture covers the following:
ACI Local Endpoint Learning.
ACI Remote Endpoint Learning.
ACI COOP Database Updates.
This lecture covers the following:
ACI Bounce Entry Updates.
ACI Endpoint Retention Policy.
This lecture covers the ACI Endpoint Forwarding scenarios in a high-level overview.
This lecture covers the following forwarding scenarios:
[1] Ingress Leaf Already Learned the Destination EP Locally.
[2] Ingress Leaf Already Learned the Destination EP Remotely.
[3] Ingress Leaf Doesn’t Know the Destination EP MAC (H/W Proxy)
This lecture covers the following forwarding scenarios:
[4] Ingress Leaf Doesn’t Know the Destination EP MAC (Spine Proxy)
[5] Ingress Leaf Doesn’t Know the Destination EP IP and no Spine Proxy
This lecture covers the following:
ACI BUM forwarding overview.
Flooding in ACI fabric.
Flooding example (FTAG trees & GIPo).
This lecture covers the following:
ARP packet forwarding.
Multi-Destination Flooding BD option.
L3 Unknown Multicast Flooding BD option.
In this lecture, I will provide an overview of ACI policy deployment and then discuss its identification and policy enforcement direction.
This lecture covers the ACI policy Zoning Rules.
In this lecture, I overview the ACI policy enforcement options and cover the following:
Unenforced mode.
Contract Inheritance.
In this lecture, I continue to explain the ACI policy enforcement options and cover the Preferred Group feature.
In this lecture, I continue to explain the ACI policy enforcement options and cover the vzAny feature.
In this lecture, I continue to explain the ACI policy enforcement options and cover the ESG feature.
In this lecture (Part 1), I will demonstrate the ACI policy enforcement option:
Unenforced VRF.
EPG contract inheritance.
Preferred Group.
vzAny.
ESGs.
In this lecture (Part 2), I will continue with the ACI policy enforcement ESG option.
This article explains contracts and filtering rule (or “zoning rule”) priorities.
This lecture covers the external L2 connectivity options:
Extend the EPG Out via static path bindings.
Extend the BD Out via L2Out connections.
In this lecture, I demonstrate the L2Out configuration in the LAB.
This lecture covers how ACI interacts with external STP-based networks and how ACI prevents potential loops in the externally connected segments.
This lecture covers the ACI loop avoidance mechanism (mis-cabling protocol).
The Cisco Data Centers | ACI Core course is designed to be an essential resource for network engineers and professionals who want to master Cisco ACI technology and excel in today’s data centers. It's also tailored to help CCIE and CCNP Data Center (v3.1) certification candidates prepare effectively for their exams.
This ACI Core course begins with an introduction to current data center challenges and the evolution of data center fabric. It then dives deep into the various ACI fabric semantics, including Underlay & Overlay, Control plane & Data plane interactions, Fabric initialization, Object model, APIC Clustering, Access Policies, Tenant Policies, Unicast and Multicast Forwarding Flows, Security Policies deployment, L2 and L3 External Data Center connections, and VMM integration.
The Cisco Data Centers | ACI Core content is designed with a broad audience in mind, while specifically targeting Cisco certification candidates, network architects, engineers, and operators. You do not have to be an ACI professional or data center administrator to benefit from this course.
Course Highlights
This professional development and foundational learning course contains the following:
High-quality, technical videos cover the core topics of Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI).
Lab demos that explain the deployment of ACI features.
Quizzes at the end of each section for knowledge review and to confirm understanding.
A practical Test at the end of the course helps you rate your knowledge level after completing the course material.
External Resources and References that allow you to extend your ACI knowledge.